Hosiery fabric



July 27, 1937. VERBEEK I 2,088,221

HOS IERY FABRI C Filed Dec. 31, 1955 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR.Grnold Trirdrich VerbeeK 7' BY -t::

\Lw ATTORNEY.

width can be obtained byknitting the welt of ab- Patented July 27, 1937UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HOSIERY FABRIC V I Arnold Friedrich Verbeek,Oberlungwitz, Ger

many, assignor to Kalio Inc., New York,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in hosieryfabric.

Some flat knitting machines are so designed that it is impossible toknit hosiery fabric of sufficient width for all purposes, particularlyat the welt. Under such circumstances additional normally long loopswhich will increase the amount of stretch and thus produce, in effect, awider fabric. This practice, however, decreases the elastic tension ofthe welt to an undesirable.

degree. The object of this invention is to supply by additional meansthe desired elastic tension without impairing the stretchability of thefabric which provides the extra effective width.

The invention is useful also to increase the elastic tension of the weltof very sheer fabric which possesses less inherent elastic tension.

A further object of the invention is to supply the desired elastictension fecting the appearance of the stocking and also withoutmaterially altering or complicating the knitting process. These resultsare obtained by weaving into the fabric which of silk or other suitableyarn, looped in the usual manner, an elastic weft thread, as will bedescribed and as shown in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1is a diagrammatic view of the welt of a stocking blank in which a singleelastic thread has been woven into occasional courses;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-section of the welt of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of a similar welt in which the elasticthread is arranged somewhat differently; v

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-section of the welt of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a welt having still another arrangementof elastic threads;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-section of the welt of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of a fragment of fabric showing a preferredmanner of inserting the elastic thread.

In the welt shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the welt I has been turned and itsattachment to the leg 2 completed. In that half 3 of the welt whichforms the inside layer of the welt an elastic weft thread 4 has beenwoven into occasional courses, say in every fifth or tenth course, forexample, depending upon the amount of elastic tension required. Theweaving in of the elastic threads is preferably accomplished inaccordance with the method disclosed in my co-pending application No.

without materially afis otherwise made 3,892 filed January 29, 1935.When this method is followed the fabric shown in Fig. 7 will result. Itwill be noted from. Fig. 7 and also Figs. 2, 4,. and 6 that the elasticthread 4 passes through the sinker loops 5 and over the connectingneedle loops 6 so that it appears only upon the back of the fabric, thesilk or other yarn only showing upon the face 8 of the fabric.Therefore, the elastic threads lie within the completed welt and arethus protected from abrasion and from contact with the leg. Also theexternal appearance of the stocking is not altered to the extent itwould be if the elastic threads appeared upon the outer surface thereof.

Another feature of this invention is that in each course in which it iswoven the elastic thread terminates'a few needles inside of the extremeedge of the fabric as shown at 9 and It! so that it lies wholly withinthe fabric and is thus protected from injury when the stocking is seamedsince the elastic threads do not enter the seam.

As will be evident from my copending application referred to, theinsertion of such an elastic weft thread may be effected withoutaltering or slowing up the regular knitting operation, a matter of greatpractical importance. Another val-' uable feature is that the breakageof the elastic thread will not in any way damage the fabric and cannotpossibly produce runs or increase the tendency torun. In fact, thepresence of the elastic thread adjacent the points of interlinkage ofthe needle and sinker loops suppliesa run resisting feature nototherwise found in plain knitted fabric, since a run which starts a veone of the weft threads cannot easily conti ue below it..

.A somewhat differentarran ement of elastic threads which may beemployed when a somewhat greater elastic tension is desired is showndiagrammatically in Figs. 3 and 4. In this form of the invention theelastic thread 4 is woven as already described, into the loops of twoadjacent courses and then again woven into two adjacent coursesseparated from the first two by a number of courses, sayv five or ten.This arrangement is shown in the upper half ll of Figs. 3, and. 4.

A further modification isshown in the lower half l2 of the same figuresin which the elastic thread 4 is woven into three adjacent coursesfollowed by a number of courses of plain fabric before the elasticinsertion is again similarly repeated.

If desired part of the elastic insertion may be in the outer layer ofwelt fabric and part in the cally illustrated by Figs. 5 and 6 in whichthe elastic thread 4 is indicated as woven into the upper half 13 of theinner layer of the welt and the elastic thread 4 as woven into the lowerhalf [4 of the outer layer of the welt. 7

Various other arrangements of interwoven elastic threads are obviouslypossible to meet different conditions. In all of them, however, will befound the features of an elastic thread in one or more courses separatedfrom a similar elastic thread insertion by a considerable number ofcourses to supply to the fabric an elastic tension greater than thatinherent in the fabric itself but not of the strength required for agarter, for example. Also in all of them the elastic threads terminate ashort distance inside of the extreme edges of the fabric so that theyare protected from injury when the stocking is seamed and preferably runalong the inner face of the fabric so that they are substantiallyconcealed.

What I claim is:

A welt for a flat knitted full fashioned stocking which consists offabric composed of courses the loops of which are the same in number andlonger than those of adjacent leg courses so that the welt fabric iswider and less elastic than the leg fabric, said welt also havinginterwoven with each course of pairs of spaced courses an elastic weftthread whereby the elastic tension of the welt is increased, said weftthread passing behind the needle loops of one of said each pair ofcourses and through the sinker loops of the other course of said pairinterlinked therewith, said welt being turned so that said elastic weftthread is exposed on the inside only of the welt.

ARNQLD FRIEDRICH VERBEEK.

